BRADENTON, Fla.  In two seasons, outfielder Jason Bay has been the National League rookie of the year, hit better than .300 and made an All-Star team.

Jason Bay is one of the National League's least known superstars. A few more wins this year may change that.

By Keith Srakocic, AP

He figures it's time to have a winning season.

"It's a fun time to be a Pittsburgh Pirate," Bay says. "It's a different feel from the last few years. This year we are banking on guys with a big-league track record instead of kids trying to do extraordinary things."

Optimism is flowing because the Pirates, whose last winning record was in 1992 when they won the NL East in the two-division format, have a promising young rotation and a strong bullpen.

Roster question: Who will be the fifth starter? The Pirates have several choices, starting with Duckworth, right-handers Victor Santos and Ryan Vogelsong and left-handers Tom Gorzelanny and Sean Burnett.

Pirates ownership signed Bay (four years, $18.25 million) and shortstop Jack Wilson (three years, $20.2 million) to long-term contracts and then doled out $18.2 million to improve the lineup with first baseman Sean Casey, third baseman Joe Randa and outfielder Jeromy Burnitz. Casey and Randa are warming seats so infield prospects Joe Bautista (third base) and Brad Eldred (first) can get a complete season at Class AAA.

"If we don't win with this team, I don't know what we are going to do," says Wilson, a 2004 All-Star who made a career-low 14 errors in 158 games last season. "We've got a good lineup, good pitching and a good defense."

Bay, 27, plays in obscurity in Pittsburgh, but last season he was the only player in baseball — and the first Pirate ever — to hit .300 with at least 30 home runs, 40 doubles, 20 steals, 100 runs scored and 100 RBI in the same season. He was also the first Pirate to start every game since Johnny Ray in 1982.

Bay will likely bat cleanup after Chris Duffy, Wilson and Casey, a first baseman who has struck out 84 times combined the last two seasons.

After Bay, the lineup will have Burnitz, 37, who hit 24 home runs for the Chicago Cubs last season, and Randa, 36, who hit .276 with 17 home runs for the Cincinnati Reds and San Diego Padres.

Bay, who played for Canada in the World Baseball Classic, said in theory the new players in the lineup will help him, but his only concern is that they will help the others.

He came to the Pirates in a trade with San Diego in August 2003. They signed him in November to a contract that keeps him in Pittsburgh through 2009.

Bay says he likes everything about Pittsburgh, especially the blue-collar attitude that reminds him of his hometown, Trail, British Columbia, a town of 7,000 that's 10 minutes north of the Canada-Washington border.

His dad, Dave, has worked since his high school graduation in the town's plant that smelts lead, zinc, gold and silver.

"Trail is industrial with smokestacks, but to me, that's normal," Bay says. "I love Pittsburgh, the city, the people, the ballpark."

But Pittsburgh doesn't have a winning team. Bay says that will change.

"Going from last to winning is a bold statement," he says, "but we have the attitude that we can do it."